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The Watering Hole; Thursday April 23 2015; Religion in 21st Century America

There’s been a lot of religious chit-chat of late, mostly centered around complaints that LGBT people are being granted the right to (horror of horrors) participate in same-sex marriage. The (fundamentalist Christian) OUTRAGE has been, to say the least, extremely vocal and for the most part — to the rational ear, at least — completely irrational. It’s as if allowing others to live their lives in a manner not approved of by those of loud voice and particular “belief” is not only an abrogation of the rights of those who disapprove, but is also an assault on the first amendment’s clause that reads, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” an assault on the very foundation of the ‘Christian Nation’ aka the United States of America.

Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve always thought that religion — no matter its name — had as its centerpiece a combination of generosity, of caring, hope, charity, and peacefulness, and that hate, fear, discrimination and their consequences were alien. To Religion. To practitioners thereof.

Pondering that notion reminded me that several years back I found — somewhere, can’t recall where — a brief synopsis of the world’s various religions, taken from appropriate quotes which more or less spell out at least the underlying and driving thesis for each. It’s interesting to read, also to wonder — while listening to today’s highly audible “religious” screamers (i.e. American right wing fundamentalist voices, aka Republicans) — what is it that’s gone so terribly wrong?

Brahmanism: “This is the sum of duty: Do naught unto others which would cause you pain if done to you.” ~Mahabharata 5:15-17

Buddhism: “Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.” ~Udana Varga 5:18

Judaism: “What is hateful to you, do not to your fellowmen. That is the entire Law; all the rest is commentary.” ~Talmud, Shabbat 31:a

Confucianism: “Surely it is the maxim of loving-kindness: Do not unto others that you would not have them do unto you.” ~Analects 15:23

Zoroastrianism: “That nature alone is good which refrains from doing unto another whatsoever is not good: for itself.” ~Dadistan-i-dinik 94:5

Islam: “No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother what which he desires for himself.” ~Sunnah

Christianity: “Reason must be deluded, blinded, and destroyed. Faith must trample underfoot all reason, sense, and understanding, and whatever it sees must be put out of sight and . . . know nothing but the word of God.” ~Martin Luther

It almost seems as if Martin Luther’s comment has not only caught on, but may even define the attitude of today’s American right wing fundies, especially when viewed in context with most any religious right statement on most any event or policy with which they disagree. Here are just a couple of recent links that point toward their embedded fears and hatreds, as linked to their “fundamentalist” religious dogma.

Philosopher David Hume seems to have pretty much summed the enduring fundamentalist core dilemma when he noted that “Men dare not avow, even to their own hearts, the doubts which they entertain on such subjects. They make a merit of implicit faith; and disguise to themselves their real infidelity, by the strongest asseverations and the most positive bigotry.” Is that a fair summation of we’re seeing today? Probably not, but at least Hume points toward the “doubts” which must surely drive “faith” in the hate/fear realm. “Bigotry” in Hume’s context.

Abrahamic faiths seem to be most burdened. Judasim, Christianity, Islam — each acknowledges essentially the same God, each is convinced that it is the “true” religion, each is, in result, similarly burdened by the events common to life itself. As David Hume put it, “. . . the first ideas of religion arose not from a contemplation of the works of nature, but from a concern with regard to the events of life, and from the incessant hopes and fears which actuate the human mind.” Or perhaps, as historian Edward Gibbons suggested, “The theologians may indulge the pleasing task of describing religion as she descended from Heaven, arrayed in her native purity. A more melancholy duty is imposed on the historian. He must discover the inevitable mixture of error and corruption which she contracted in a long residence upon earth, among a weak and degenerate race of beings.”

Whatever be the case, the world today is beset by religious irrationality, and ordinary people suffer in result. Why is such nonsense tolerated, much less praised and worshiped by so many? Why can’t we all simply get along? Why does mythology occupy such a prominent pedestal in the human passage?

Gautama Siddharta — Buddha — perhaps spoke the best solution to religious fears when he said,

“Believe nothing just because a so-called wise person said it. Believe nothing just because a belief is generally held. Believe nothing just because it is said in ancient books. Believe nothing just because it is said to be of divine origin. Believe nothing just because someone else believes it. Believe only what you yourself test and judge to be true.”

“As the Supreme Court prepares to take up same-sex marriage next week, conservative scholars have produced a last-ditch argument to keep the scourge of homosexual unions from spreading across the land: Gay marriage kills.

They’re saying that legalizing same-sex marriage will cause 900,000 abortions.
The logic is about as obvious as if they had alleged that raising the minimum wage would increase the frequency of hurricanes.”

“Belief in Biblical prophecy surely provides hope and comfort for the believer, and I take no pleasure in attempting to subvert humble faith. But the belief in prophecy that justifies imperialist aggression, especially when joined to bull-headed support for an ignorant president who pompously fancies himself a ‘religious scholar’ is frightening. More frightening than the beliefs that led Japanese religious fanatics to try to usher in the End Times by releasing sarin gas in the Tokyo subway ten years ago. One can’t just shrug these off as the eccentric beliefs of a few gullible fools. They are powerful delusions wielded—as weapons of mass, apocalyptic destruction—by growing movements of highly motivated people. They have to be challenged, among other ways, by patient logic.” ~Gary Leupp; Professor of History at Tufts University, and Adjunct Professor of Comparative Religion.

The natural family is the ecosystem of humanity! It must be preserved at all costs.

How? By a populist uprising! The elites need to see the angry mob — liberals and conservatives together — surging through the streets, pitchforks and torches held aloft, ready to tear down Frankenstein’s castle with their bare hands if need be

I sorta suspected Frankenstein was involved in this gay marriage schtick. I mean, it’s so logical when you think about it.

Except the crowd is likely to have few Liberals in it, if any, and almost all Conservative Christians. And Divorce is more of a threat to “traditional marriage” than same-sex marriage is. Same-sex marriage is only a threat to closeted gay people.

I would prolly march in that parade — IF — same sex marriage was mandated, by law and Supreme Court ruling, for everyone. That I wouldn’t like. I would also be against any law or SCOTUS ruling that mandated abortion for everyone (if only for Republicans, I might reconsider). I know, my bad.

A slap on the wrist! Anyone else would certainly have been sentenced for terrorism and sent away forever.
Shame on Feinstein for saying Petraeus has been punished enough. WTF, Dianne?

Ex-CIA Director David Petraeus Gets Probation, Fine For Leaking Secrets
David Petraeus, the former CIA director whose shining career in public service came crashing down after an affair with his biographer, received two years probation and a $100,000 fine Thursday for leaking military secrets.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s tea party advisory panel on Tuesday blasted Gov. Greg Abbott’s quality pre-K legislation as “socialistic” and “a threat to parental rights,” contributing friction to the already tense balancing act between the state’s top Republican leaders.“We are experimenting at great cost to taxpayers with a program that removes our young children from homes and half-day religious preschools and mothers’ day out programs to a Godless environment

Bryan Fischer spent two segments on his radio program today reading from his latest column, in which he warns that if the Supreme Court strikes down state bans on gay marriage, Christians will be turned into pariahs and find their churches and ministries stripped of their tax exempt status and shut down.

Stripped of tax exemption? So far so good.

But the first order of business, Fischer warned, would be to “turn the Bible into Mein Kampf” and prohibit it from being studied or read in schools or public places.

Well, so much for that. AFAIK,there are no prohibitions on Mein Kampf nor should there be. The bible? Best used in churches, not schools.

True, and likewise with any holy book. It’s the non-proselytizing part that gets in the way of proselytes. Means “prohibiting the free exercise” first amendment guarantee has been VIOLATED. Same problem as when they can’t burn witches.

Remember that Governor who said the Republican Party needed to “stop being the party of stupid”? Whatever happened to that guy?

Because he wrote an op-ed in today’s NYT that says the state shouldn’t punish people who discriminate based on deeply held beliefs. Says the Governor who wouldn’t have been allowed to eat at a Woolworth’s lunch counter fifty years ago based on people’s deeply held beliefs.